Army "Future" vs. Insurgent Superbombs

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Army "Future" vs. Insurgent Superbombs

The Army’s $120 $200+ billion Future Combat Systems – a light, networked family of vehicles intended to replace a third of the active tank and Bradley fleet — was conceived in the 1990s before Improvised Explosive Devices andExplosively Formed Penetrators (insurgent "superbombs") started demolishing U.S. forces in Iraq.So does the FCS concept still hold water?

Based on the deployment of prototypical [FCS] systems in Iraq since the beginning of the war there, analysts … are unaware that this concept has achieved even rudimentary feasibility. Indeed, the devastating success of enemy IEDs and [Explosively FormedProjectiles] in Iraq has led to the deployment of heavier armor, not lighter, and an acknowledgement that the enemy rarely permits itself to be found and identified by sensor hardware.

Army officials disagree.Program manager Major General Charles Cartwright insists that FCS is still the way to go, for it represents one way of breaking the endless cycle of “up-armoring” that has resulted in 15-ton “Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected” trucks replacing 7-ton Humvees in Iraq. “If all we’re doing is piling on armor, where does that stop?” Cartwright asks.

The key, officials say, is applying all the lessons learned in Iraq to make the FCS vehicles as survivable as possible in the event of a blast, while still counting on improved sensors and networks to spot and avoid bombs — in a sense, swapping some armor for more information.Even after four years of dirty, low-tech war in Iraq, the network is still “the most important thing to come out of FCS,” says BrigadierGeneral James Terry, who’s responsible for developing FCS tactics.

The vehicles themselves have been redesigned in light of Iraq,Cartwright says. “We’ve learned an awful lot about IEDs and EFPs.” The general won’t go into specifics, but angled hulls to deflect blasts and new layered armor for defeating EFPs both surely play a role. Plus, they’re heavier. Long gone is the 20-ton weight limit and the requirement to fly aboard C-130s. FCS vehicles will be transported byC-17 and, more often, by ship.

The FCS brigades that actually deploy around 2015 won’t look at all like those in the original 1990s plan. In addition to the heavier FCSvehicles and all the robots, FCS brigades will probably include MRAPs upgraded with network terminals, sensors and new armor kits. The Army and Marines are still studying the exact mix of MRAPs and FCS vehicles, but Cartwright assures that “there are going to be wheels inside an FCS[brigade combat team].”